One Step Closer
by JewelBlue3
Summary: The agents meet a special girl who wants to help Mulder get a step closer to what he has been looking for. My first X-File Fic! Please R&R!


One Step Closer  
  
Washington D.C.   
MULDER AND SCULLY'S OFFICE  
5:42AM  
  
Mulder was sitting in his office. Scully came in, with her usual look of disproval.  
  
"What is so important that you had to call me at 5:25 this morning and tell me to hurry into the office?"  
  
"The Mayor's daughtor was just returned."  
  
"The Mayor of South Dakota?" Mulder nodded. "What is so urgent about that?"  
  
"She's dead."  
  
"Mulder..." Scully started on her usual tone.  
  
"That is the fourth child in the past five months. They are gone for one month--"  
  
"Kidnapping, running away. There is nothing unusual about that."  
  
"Exactly one month. What kind of kidnapper takes a kid for exactly one month?"  
  
"Mulder, it could be some kind of ritualistic crime," Scully started off with her scientific thought process. "Maybe a gang initiation ritual."  
  
"There are no signs of struggle, no physical abuse, nothing. It's almost as if they just died of natural causes." Scully sighed. She knew that this was going somewhere. "I would like you to autopsy the bodies."  
  
Yup, she was right. "People have already done that, Mulder. If there was anything to find, someone would have already."  
  
"The first three bodies were autopsied autopsied by locals. They wouldn't know what to look for."  
  
"And I would?"  
  
"Scully, with all the experi--"  
  
Scully knew that there was no point in arguing with him. Somehow, he would get her to go. If she agreed now, at least she wouldn't have to bother arguing. "Fine, Mulder."  
  
  
  
Hot Springs, South Dakota  
AUTOPSY ROOM  
12:13PM  
  
Scully was snapping off her autopsy gloves when Mulder walked in. "Everything appears to be normal," she let out a breath, "except for what I found in her neck."  
  
Mulder looked up. "What is it?" He already knows the answer.  
  
"A chip."  
  
"Just like..."  
  
"Yup." She knew that that settled it, they wouldn't be leaving for a while.  
  
  
SCULLY'S HOTEL ROOM  
  
There was a knock at the door. She stood up and went to answer it.  
  
"I found something," Mulder started when he walked in. "there was a fifth dissappearance. Savannah Margaret."  
  
"Why wasn't there a report of this before?"  
  
"Because she returned alive."  
  
"Mulder, how do you know that this is related?"  
  
"It follows the same pattern, Scully. She was gone for exactly one month, then returned. Except she was different. She returned in perfect health."  
  
"Has she said anything?"  
  
"Nothing on file. We will-" Scully interrupted before Mulder could finish.  
  
"Have to interview her, okay."  
  
  
SAVANNAH MARGARET'S HOUSE  
2:30PM  
  
Savannah sat in front of the TV. It wasn't on, yet she was staring at it. She was thinking. She did that quite often, she had nothing better to do. She knew that people were coming. She also knew that they are important people, more important than the others that had visited. What she didn't know was exactly how important.  
  
"Savannah!" She turned to look at her mother. "Are you hungry for dinner yet?" Savannah shook her head. She didn't feel like eating. "Okay, let me know when you are." Her mother left the room. Savannah was about to return to her thinking, when she turned her head sharply toward the door. They're here.  
  
A loud knocking was heard. Savannah's mother rushed to the door. "Hello." She greeted the two people standing there.  
  
"Hello. I'm Agent Scully and this is my partner Agent Mulder. We are with the FBI." As Scully said that, both of them took out their badges for her to see and then replaced them.  
  
"Hi, umm, come in."  
  
"Are you the mother of Savannah Margaret?" Mulder asked.  
  
"Yes."   
  
"We are sorry to disturb you, Miss Margaret. We should have called first." Scully added in, trying not to come off as coldhearted.  
  
"It's no problem. Please," she guestured inside her home, "come in."  
  
"Thank you." Mulder, followed by Scully, stepped in to the Margaret's home. Scully spotted Savannah first, she saw her watching them.  
  
Savannah was watching as Scully and Mulder entered. Dana Scully, with firey red hair, and Fox Mulder, with his distinguished looks. She was an easy head shorter than he was, but Savannah knew that you shouldn't be fooled by looks, Savannah could tell that she should never be crossed. She put out an ice cold exterior, but she was soft and warm inside. She had her own way of doing things. She was a practical person, skeptical of most everything Mulder said, always science, never pure fantasy. She didn't like going off into dreamland, which, Savannah knew, was hard with Mulder always by her side. She always liked a challenge, and she didn't like people to think of her as weak. She didn't take any crap from people. She put up walls of defense, which she used all her strength to keep up, for it was her worst fear for someone to see her walls crumble, exposing the kindhearted and soft person inside. She trusted Mulder, one of few. She was a person to be trusted, despite the exterior. Savannah knew that she would give her life in a second for Mulder's, and Mulder the same. She and Mulder had a close friendship, that could easily have gone further if it hadn't been for the hands-off policy both of them had with themselves. Neither of them knew about the other's, both believing that the other would think that they were purely insane if spoken out loud.  
  
Mulder was a different story. He was tall, with brown hair. His expression was almost always blank, it was usually hard to tell what he was thinking. He acted like a know-it-all, with his smart-ass comments that never stopped. At first glance, he is a difficult person to work with, always trying to connect something with the paranormal. If you have his trust, it is an entirely different story. He listens to people he trusts, whereas people he doesn't are often regarded as idiots, someone never to listen to. Even when you gain his trust, it is still hard to work with him, Scully knew this from experience. Savannah knew that Scully wouldn't admit it, but she enjoyed having him around, and Mulder the same. Savannah could tell that he had lost someone very important in his life. His sister. Samantha Mulder. Savannah knew that that must mean something.  
  
Savannah knew all of this the moment they stepped in. She hadn't needed to speak to them, only look into their minds, where she could see it all. Yet, there was something different about them. They were different than the others, something stood out. Savannah knew that she needed to figure out what that was.  
  
"Hello Savannah." Scully stated simply. Savannah stared at her with a blank expression on her face. They weren't going to get her that easy. "I'm Dana." She already knew this, of course.  
  
"Hi, I'm Mulder." Scully shot him a look. Savannah grinned slightly. She knew that he hated being called by his first name. Mulder started again, a clearly unhappy look on his face. "You can call me Fox."  
  
"We just want to ask you a few things. Is that okay?" Savannah just stared.  
  
Savannah's mother, who had been quiet all this time, spoke up. "They haven't told you, have they."  
  
Mulder looked up at her. "Told us what?"  
  
"Ever since Savannah's... return" she paused, knowing she found the right word, "she hasn't spoken." She paused again. "There is nothing wrong with her voicebox, she has been examined by every doctor I could find, and they all say the exact same thing. She is perfectly capable of speaking, she just chooses not to. I have tried everything I could think of to get her to, but she always refuses. She will shake and nod her head, but only answering to me. As soon as I ask her about when she was gone, she stops responding. She doesn't want to speak of it." Savannah's mother had anticipated the questions. They were certain to be the same ones all the shrinks, doctors, and basically everyone else, had asked.  
  
Mulder simply nodded, and Scully looked deep in thought. They both really wanted to help all those other girls that were bound to be abducted, but for anyone else, it looked like a dead end. For Mulder and Scully, it looked like a challenge.   
  
"Could we speak to her?" Scully asked.  
  
"Yes, that would be fine with me. Is that okay with you, sweetheart?" Savannah nodded. "Okay, I'll be in the next room." Savannah's mother left the room.  
  
"Savannah, I'm sure you have heard about the other... disappearances. They all seem to follow a pattern. The person is gone for one month, then returned. All have returned dead, except you. We are almost certain that this will continue, and we were hoping that you could help us." Mulder said. He didn't expect her to reply. He could sense that there was something different about her. He glanced at Scully.  
  
Scully appeared apprehensive, as usual. How were they supposed to get her to talk? If no one else could get her to talk, how could Mulder expect that they could? But she knew Mulder. And herself. She wouldn't give up this easily, and neither would Mulder.  
  
Mulder suddently had an idea. "Can I have a quick look at something?"  
  
Savannah lowered her head down, exposing her neck. Mulder looked and saw exactly what he was expecting to. The scar from the chip. She had one. He looked at Scully again, who, to his surprise, was giving Savannah a very strange look. He realized that she was in total surprise, which shocked him. She usually tried to hide it, and he didn't even know why she looked that surprised.  
  
How did Savannah know Mulder was going to look at her neck? Scully didn't want to say that out loud. She didn't want to believe all the crazy things that were flashing through her head. She couldn't. They were imposs-- Savannah looked up at Scully, stopping her thought process. She saw it immediately. She didn't want to believe it. But it was true.  
  
Savannah knew that Scully believed. She had to confirm it. Savannah jerked her head towards Scully's jacket pocket. Almost immediatly, Scully's phone began to ring. Scully reached inside her jacket pocket to retrieve it, giving Savannah a look of bewilderment, but belief all the same.  
  
"Scully." She answered her phone. "Hello? Hello?" No one responded. Scully knew that Savannah had made her phone ring.  
  
Mulder watched them, watched as Scully's surprised and apprehensive face changed to bewildered, and finally to understanding. He didn't understand any of it, and he had a feeling that if he asked Scully, she wouldn't tell him about it.  
  
Savannah turned to look at Mulder, then to his pocket. His cell phone rang.  
  
"Hello? pause Sir, we-- pause All right, I'll do it right now." He hung up and turned to Scully, placing the phone back into his pocket. "Skinner wants me to send him the results of your autopsy."  
  
"Okay, we better go." Scully wanted to stay and ask Savannah more questions, but she knew that she wouldn't respond. Mulder had stepped into the kichen to tell Savannah's mother that they had to go, and he returned, pulling the car keys out of his pocket.  
  
"Lets go." He turned to Savannah. "Nice meeting you." Scully said the same, and they stepped outside just as they saw a bolt of lightning. They looked up at the jet black sky and it immediatly began pouring. They quickly rushed to their car, Mulder unlocking it, then both of them slamming the doors shut when inside, blocking the cold rain from drenching them further.   
  
"It's raining cats and dogs, Mulder. We should wait until it clears a little."  
  
"The motel is not that far. We can risk it."  
  
~~  
Savannah watched from her room the storm that was outside. The thunderstorm was right over them. She knew it was about to start hailing. Hard. Savannah knew that if you were on the road, you should get off it right now. Mulder and Scully were driving. With Mulder's stubburnness, he wouldn't pull over in time. They were in danger.  
~~  
  
"Mulder, you can't even see. Please pull over!"  
  
"Scully, the hotel is only a mile from here. We will be fine."  
  
"I don't--" Scully was cut off by the sound of her cell phone ringing. "Hello?" She said as she gave Mulder an evil glare through the darkness. "Hello?" No one was responding. "Is someone there?" Then it hit her. "Savannah, is that you? Is something wrong?" Silence. "Mulder, we should go back. I think something's wrong."  
  
He reluctantly agreed. "All right." He made a U-turn and drove the few blocks back to Savannah's house. They had just gotten there and were knocking on the door when it started hailing. Savannah's mother let them in quickly and they watched hail the size of golfballs pound to the ground. Their car windshield shattered, and they knew that if they had been inside it... they didn't even want to think of it.  
  
Scully and Mulder turned around, looking at Savannah, who was standing there watching them. Savannah's mother sensed that she should leave, and went into the kichen muttering something about dinner.  
  
She knew that that was going to happen. What Scully really wanted right now was to be able to talk to Savannah. She didn't know why, but she wanted to talk to Savannah without Mulder around.  
  
Mulder's phone rang. "Mulder. pause There was a hail storm, and we couldn't get to our hotel. pause As soon as we can. pause Okay." Mulder hung up the phone, staring though the window at the huge balls of white pounded to the ground. "He said we have to send them as soon as the hail stops--." Mulder stopped talking as he realized that the window he was looking through no longer had hail coming down. "It stopped so fast."  
  
Scully, not taking her eyes off Savannah, said, "How did that happen?"  
  
"I don't know, but I better send them."  
  
"I left them in my hotel room, on the desk." Scully said as she handed him the key.  
  
"Aren't you coming?"  
  
"No, I'd like to stay here with Savannah for a little longer. I'll call you on your cell when I'm through."  
  
"Okay. I'll call a cab." Mulder exits, leaving the two of them alone.  
  
Scully took a deep breath. She was perparing to ask the question that she had been dreading. The one that she already knew the answer to. "You can read minds." It came out as a statement instead of a question.  
  
Savannah just smiled. Dana didn't need a response.  
  
"Why don't you speak?"  
  
At this, Savannah took a deep breath. She hadn't spoken since she returned, 3 months ago. She was prepared. Savannah had finally realized why Fox and Dana were so different from the others. They were the ones. Savannah knew exactly what to say. "I was waiting for the right person."  
  
Scully didn't want to ask, she wanted to hear if she had anything else to say. But her curiosity got the better of her. "I am the right person?"  
  
"You and Mulder. You both have your strong points, and together, you are perfect. You would listen to what I had to say, and Mulder would know what to do with the information. I have been waiting for you to come. I knew you would. This is what I want you to do. Take out your recorder, and tape everything I am about to say. Call Mulder and tell him to come and pick you up. Go back to his hotel room and play him the tape.I don't want him here when I say this, it will be easier for him. I will know when you are finished. Exactly one minute after the tape finishes, his phone will ring. I will be on the other line. He has three words to say to me. I need to hear those words." Scully had set up the recorder by now. "Start now."  
  
  
MULDER'S HOTEL ROOM  
5:09PM  
  
"Mulder, I've got something that you should hear."  
  
"What is it?" Scully took out the tape recorder. "What is on there?" He wasn't expecting to her a young girl's voice fill the air as she pressed play.   
  
"It's Savannah." Scully said, confirming his thoughts. Mulder wanted to ask a million questions right then, about how Scully got her to talk, and why, but he kept his mouth shut and listened to what she was saying.  
____  
"Right when you two walked in the door, I knew that there was something different about you. I had spoken to so many other people, and they were all the same. But when you walked in the door, there was something there. I immediately knew that I had to figure out what that was. I know now that you two are the people I am meant to tell this to. You will know why and how later. I was taken four months ago. Mulder, you know what took me. They subjected me to hundreds of tests. Near the end, They put a chip in my neck that was supposed to kill me, like the others. Somehow, the chip didn't work. It couldn't kill me. Instead, I was given powers. I can read minds. I can predict how things will happen. I can make things happen using only my mind. I have all the powers They do. They just don't know about it. The reason why They are taking all those girls is They are looking for someone. A girl, around my age. They subjected all of us to tests to see if we knew where she was. None of us did. The girl they are looking for escaped from them after getting tired of all the tests she was forced to do. She was placed in a holding tank when she was taken. She would not age, until they took her out, which was a few years ago. She is 14 now. They have to find her before she finds what she is looking for. Otherwise, They are ruined. I cannot tell you anymore, because that is all I know. I can help you, but I cannot lead your way. Only you know the path. I know that you can help all those other girls from being taken and subjected to all those horrible tests I had to go through. You must help that girl find what she is looking for, before all is lost."  
----  
  
Scully stopped the tape, studying his expression. "Mulder your phone will ring in exactly one minute. You know what to say."  
  
....Mulder's phone rang.   
  
TO BE CONTINUED....  
  
AN: This was my first X-Files fanfic. I hope you liked it! I need 15 reviews before I will continue (I need fuel!). Oh, and any ideas for what should happen next are welcome! I tried to start the second chapter, but I have the worst writer's block! Words of wisdom: Don't think someone else will review, they will be thinking that you will. Please review and thanks for reading!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them! You can try and sue, but all you will get is my laugh as I plead insanity!  
  



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